ABSTRACT
Five years into treatment with Melina, a Greek-American author in her thirties, a strange coincidence occurred. She was talking in detail about a good friend from Princeton whom she had previously mentioned only briefly. She described her friend's father, a prominent academic. Initially the author felt relieved about her withholding stance with Melina. The transference could remain pure and uncomplicated by the unnecessary self-disclosure. Melina entered treatment because she felt she was "living a lie". In her first session she explained, "I have two separate lives and need to learn to put them together". The chapter explores Melina's rational and irrational fears about telling her family of about her boyfriend, and the emotional drain of keeping her two lives so separate. One theme that came into play in processing the enactment was that of stories and their ownership. Melina's book was a collection of personal essays with many about her extended family and their experience in Greece.
